In a different league
VIJAY GEORGE
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Isaac Thomas Kottukapally's eclectic taste in music and films helped him make an impact in the Malayalam film industry.
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Photo: N. Sridharan
WINNING MUSIC: Isaac Thomas Kottukapally won the State award for the best background score.
He loves to experiment and it has been a way of life for Isaac Thomas Kottukapally. Born into an affluent, aristocratic family in Pala, he has a diploma in film direction and screenplay writing from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, and a certificate in music from the Trinity College of Music, London.
Wide range of interests
His interests are wide ranging - from movies, music, painting to ad films. He can analyse the musical styles of Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky with ease and hopes to pursue his interest in painting, some time in the future.
"For a creative person, it is quite natural to break the rules and in the process create new ones," smiles the soft spoken composer, who won the State award for the best background score for `Oridam' and `Sancharam'. He had earlier won awards for `Bhavum' and `Margam.'
His `cosmopolitan outlook' and interest in art and music is natural considering the atmosphere in which he grew up.
"We had a huge library at home and had access to the best in world history, science and literature. The children of the family would perform before our elder brother, who would be the judge. There would be music, dance, poetry and drama sessions. I would recite my poems, play the mouth organ or Bulbul Tara and perform shadow plays. We had an amazing collection of music records and I was fascinated by the music of great musicians such as C. Ramachandra, Ravi, S.D. Burman and Madan Mohan. I would also keep track of the latest in Hollywood and Hindi cinema from the film magazines my brother used to subscribe."
His life and thinking began to change further when he joined Bishop Cotton School in Bangalore, "where I started watching a lot of Hollywood films during the weekends.
"I was interested in dance too and naturally, I began to follow operas and ballets ."
A stint in FTII brought him close to such film makers as John Abraham, K.G. George, Balu Mahendra and later Aravindan, with whom he worked in films such as `Thampu', `Kummatty' and `Esthappan'. "It was Aravindan who told me to believe inmy intuitions."
Divide in cinema
Does he believe in the so-called divide between the parallel and commercial cinema?
"I don't think there is a need to place films into these categories. It could perhaps be used to differentiate serious cinema, which often carries a social message, and those that are meant only to entertain."
Isaac says he has written a number of exciting scripts, "which can be made into films. I have hundreds of scripts with me."
He has composed the music for films like Girish Kasaravalli's `Haseena,' T. V. Chandran's `Kadhavaseshan,' Sasi Kumar's `Kaya Taran' and Madhu Ambat's `1:1.6 - An Ode to Lost Love,' Pradeep Nair's `Oridam' and Lijy J. Pullappally's `Sancharam' last year.
"In `Sancharam,' we based the scores on folk ragas and gave it an ethnic sound using chenda, edakka and elathalam.
The orchestration in `Oridam' was meant to give it a metropolitan feel. I wanted to point out that the plight of the protagonist in the film is the same in any city in any corner of the world. I didn't want the audience to cry along with her."
Isaac's future projects include a film by K.N.T. Sastry, and a few Tamil and Hindi films.
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